In recent years, in the field of laser processing such as laser cutting and laser welding, it is demanded that a laser module using a laser diode output laser light of high beam quality at high output level.
Conventional laser emitter module 900 described in Patent Literature (PTL) 1 is described with reference to FIG. 26. FIG. 26 is a perspective view of conventional laser emitter module 900.
As illustrated in FIG. 26, conventional laser emitter module 900 includes: laser emitter bar 902 having five emitters 901; heat sink 903; heat sink spacer 904; fast axis collimator 905; prism member 906; and beam conditioning optic 907. Laser emitter bar 902 is fixed to heat sink 903, and heat sink 903 is fixed to heat sink spacer 904. Fast axis collimator 905 and beam conditioning optic 907 are fixed to prism member 906 fixed to heat sink spacer 904.
Fast axis collimator 905 collimates laser light output from emitters 901, in a fast axis direction. As beam conditioning optic 907, a beam twister is used, for example. Beam conditioning optic 907 rotates incident laser light approximately 90 degrees and emits the resulting laser light.
With this configuration, in the fast axis direction in which the divergence angle of laser light is large, fast axis collimator 905 collimates the laser light in the fast axis direction, and the laser light can be rotated 90 degrees such that a fast axis and a slow axis are interchanged. Thereafter, in a slow axis direction in which the divergence angle of laser light is relatively small, a slow axis collimator (not illustrated in the drawings) collimates the laser light in the slow axis direction, and thus collimation of the laser light is completed.